Xingbao - Character Cast
Personal worldbuilding project. For more lore and environmental props: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/kQVaAn
Game done and sprites exported for Unity!
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An ongoing personal world-building project based in Xingbao (星堡), a layered hovering city where stars are used as a primary energy and light source. They are pulled from the sky by humanity with the power of 12 ZodiArts, wielders of powerful art forms that are used to manifest and shape space.
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Each one of these wielders are given a ShengDi (生帝), Zodiac Spirits, who grants said power and are passed down through generations of the 12 zodiac clans. However, these Spirits hides a demonic form called “Primals” when their Year of the Animal hits and hidden from the public, are chained up to power the city.
For the price of interfering with the stars to build an entire city on pillars of such energy, is as fragile as putting all of one’s eggs in one basket…
Genre: 3D Open World, Exploration, Action RPG and/or Turn based
Selling Point: Environmental Exploration + Story Thriller, Character-Focused
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Initial Inspiration:
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A passing thought on the Skytrain, watching Vancouver lights spanning in the night.
It was strange, how much human beings admires the stars in the skies, that their own cities outshine them
so that their shine is no longer in the dark skies – but in the very cities they live in.
Metaphorically almost as if the stars are pulled down so humans can live with them,
but ignorantly unfazed by the consequences the future brings.
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My project goal, then expanded to my roots to explore more of my Chinese heritage and history, using the
zodiac as a vehicle to expand on this exploration and metaphor.
Each one of these wielders are given a ShengDi (生帝), Zodiac Spirits, who grants said power and are passed down through generations of the 12 zodiac clans. However, these Spirits hides a demonic form called “Primals”
In-game sprite for Demonic Rabbit Spirit when going primal.
Jianhe in-game animation
Rabbit Spirit in-game animation
Cangmo In-game animations
Goat
Slime enemy in-game animation
Weiqi Faction:
Faction responsible for military defenses in Xingbao enforced by the God of Weiqi, Black Tortoise.
Inspired by real life weiqi, this group uses a board consisting of triangular movement.
Mouse
Pig
Painting Faction:
Faction responsible for creations in Xingbao sent by the God of Painting, the Vermillion Bird.
They use powerful brush techniques to manifest and shape space, but now only a shadow of the former architects of the city.
Monkey
Music Faction:
Faction responsible for peacemaking and celebration in Xingbao guided by the God of Painting, the Azure Dragon.
Using music to protect and regulate the citizens - on the day of the 100 Drums or Nian’s New Year festival.
Ox
Horse
Calligraphy Faction:
Faction responsible for documentations in the present and history of Xingbao regulated by the God of Calligraphy, White Tiger.
They are intelligence-holders, preserver of secrets and engrave records from the shadows.
Tiger
Who powers the stars in the city? The Zodiac Spirits going Primal do. During New years (or the Nian festival) while the citizens are celebrating, the zodiac of that year goes primal. Kept a secret from the public,the Zodiac Spirit is locked up and drained
Some samples of notebook world-building explorations of the workings between the Gods, Zodiacs, their Leaders, the citizens, and city infrastructure.
The thrill of connecting plot points! Writing was important for me to record my thoughts.
Early on, I knew I wanted to twist some expected traits or stereotypes of the zodiac. What if Dragon is shy and goofy? What if Horse doesn’t have long legs for running? What if Snake is the most trustworthy of the 12?
Some story ideas include the Dragon Spirit’s tail bitten off by the Wolf, leading to a friendship when the Rabbit Spirit chased the Wolf off (hence their race placements). Or how Tiger’s stripes can float off its body as attack, a callout to calligraphy.
Primal designs inspired by insects and marine creatures. I wanted them to feel grotesque, devoid of their original forms. For aesthetics, I was inspired by Madoka Magica and Final Fantasy’s Eikon use of familiar but warped representation in their designs.
Snake design pass…but it didn’t feel of Eastern origin. Iterated from Black Turtoise and the goal to design a kind snake general, the concept of the Spirit as head of the clan (now Huilin) stuck well but solidfying cultural design language helped it.
I remembered being satisfied with the direction of these concepts, especially the goat one. Looking back, they did not have grounding with one another because lack of story and motifs with their respective stars. Rather, they had become caricatures.
Rooster’s (now Miaoyun) color palette was interesting, but design was incredibly simple. Her only identity in her design was her color silhouette. It became apparent that these designs needed more story structure.
This exploration piece gave me more insight on where to focus next: creating a cohesive cast that finalizes design + narrative choices that the original concepts were still debating on.
Here are some examples of re-designs to fit the character’s clans (above). Each clan were attributed a negative emotion to fight (ex, Huilin of Snake fears Betrayal) which the primal forms were based off of.
Some samples of notable colour explorations. It was hard to decide for Goat (Cangmo) and Snake (Huilin) as they all work well. Chinese color palettes (as noted on top left) tend to have a more pastel and less saturated feel.
I wanted Rabbit (Jianhe) and Dragon (Ruiren) to contrast one another through values and temperature to sell their differences, in timid vs. brash.
The original cast was more in-line with their intended art factions, however were only representative of their zodiac animal...
...The new cast had an individual uniqueness that each character embodies while still referencing to their factions. They have more of a story to tell with the way carry themselves.
This was an earlier idea of Black Tortoise as a more physical manifestation than a God in spirit. It was here that I switched gears and focused on the zodiac as the main pioneers of the story.